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William TAYLOR 1840-1924

1840
—Pawnee County, Oklahoma

It has been but a matter of course that many of the older commonwealths of the Union have made valuable contribution to the citizenship of the vital new State of Oklahoma, and a representative farmer and progressive citizen of Pawnee County who claims the old Buckeye State as the place of his nativity and who is a scion of families early founded in the South, is William Taylor, the close of the year 1915 marking the twentieth year of his residence on his present well improved homestead, which is eligibly situated in the vicinity of the Village of Jennings, in section 10, township 20, the place having been well improved by him and his son George A., now having charge of the practical operations of the farm, the income from which has in recent years been augmented by the extending of leases for oil development on the property. Mr. Taylor further merits special consideration hy reason of having served as a valiant soldier of the Union in the Civil war, and in all of the relations of citizenship he has shown the same loyal spirit that thus prompted him to go forth in defense of the nation's integrity.

William Taylor was born in Vinton County, Ohio, on the 21st of July, 1840, and though ho is now venerable in years he retains much of his pristine physical and mental vigor and in the gracious evening of life enjoys the good health that marks the result of right living and right thinking.

He is a son of Andrew and Sarah (Loving) Taylor, the former of whom was born in Greenbrier County, West Virginia, on the 4th of February, 1813, his native state having at that time been still an . integral part of Virginia, and his wife having been born within the limits of the latter state as at present constituted. Both were young at the time of the immigration to Ohio, he having been a young man at the time and having severed the home ties to cast his lot with the pioneers of the Buckeye State, while his wife had removed with her parents to that commonwealth, their marriage having been solemnized in Vinton County. In the autumn of 1841 Andrew Taylor removed with his family to Sycamore County, Illinois, and in 1843, he became one of the pioneer settlers in Keokuk County, Iowa, a section then on the very frontier of civilization. He became one of the early representatives of the agricultural and live-stock industries in the Hawkeye State, where he continued his residence for nearly half a century. In 1884 he and his wife removed thence to Oregon, and they passed the closing years of their lives at Drain, Douglas County, that state.

Andrew Taylor devoted his active life to farming and milling, ami though he was blind during the last sixty years of his life he was able to attend to business affairs and to supervise practical details of farm work, even as he had no difficulty in driving about with a team and unaccompanied. He never swerved from his allegiance to the democratic party, and both he and his wife held membership in the Methodist Episcopal Church. Concerning their children who attained to maturity the following data are available: John is a resident of Oregon, in which state he established bis home in 1862; the next in order of birth was William, subject of this review; .lame became the wife of Enos Rushton, and was a ' resilient of Kansas at the time of her death; David died in the City of Los Angeles, California; Newton is a resident of Grand Junction, Colorado; and Mary Elizabeth is the wife of Mason E. Hindman, of Mount Idaho, in the State of Idaho.William Taylor remained at the parental home until he had attained to his legal majority and in the meanwhile not only gave effective aid in the work and manfigement of the home farm, but also made good use of the advantages afforded in the pioneer schools of Iowa, in which state he was reared to adult age.

At Fairfield, Jefferson County, Iowa, in September, 1861, Mr. Taylor wedded Miss Martha Ann Woodward, who was born in Indiana, as were also her parents, Silas and Sarah (Leonard) Woodward, who established their home in Iowa when she was still a child, her mother having died in that state and her father having been a resident of Kansas at the time of his death and having been a pioneer farmer in both Iowa and Kansas.

Shortly after his marriage Mr. Taylor subordinated all personal interests and left his grieving but loyal young wife to tender his aid in defense of the Union. On the 9th of August, 1862, he enlisted in Company B, Nineteenth Iowa Volunteer Infantry, Harry Jordan having been captain of the company, and he continued in active service with this gallant command until the close of the war, his honorable discharge having been received by him in July, 1865. He participated in all of the many engagements in which his regiment was involved. He took part in the battle at Prairie Grove, Arkansas, in December, 1862, and also in the siege of Vicksburg and the siege of Spanish Fort, besides many minor engagements. He held the office of corporal during all but the first year of his service in the ranks and proved himself a faithful and gallant soldier, his record having been such as to reflect lasting honor upon his name.

After the close of the war Mr. Taylor resumed farming operations in Wayne County, Iowa, until 1882, when he removed his family to Cloud County, Kansas, where he was a renter and where he continued successful operations as an agriculturist and stock-grower until the autum of 1894, when he came to Oklahoma Territory and became one of the pioneer settlers of Pawnee County, where he has resided upon his present homestead since the spring of 1895, his energy and good judgment having been brought into effective play in the development and improving of the farm, which is now one of the valuable places of this section of the state.

Mr. Taylor has always exemplified the best type of loyal and public-spirited citizenship, is a stalwart democrat in his political proclivities, has been affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows for nearly half a century, and vitalized the more pleasing associations of his military career by his active affiliation with the Grand Army of the Republie, that noble organization whose ranks are being rapidly thinned by the one invincible foe, death. The first wife of Mr. Taylor did not long survive, as she was summoned to eternal rest in February, 1864, while he was still serving as a soldier of the Union. Their only child, William E., is now a resident of Minnesota.

On the 10th of September, 1865, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Taylor to Mrs. Eliza R. Ryckman, who was born in Indiana, and whose death occurred in Wayne County, Iowa, on the 9th of August, 1871. Of the three children of this union Rosa became the wife of W. A. Robertson, and her death occurred in Iowa, she having been survived by three children; Eli, the second child, is a resident of the City of Lewiston, Idaho; and Alva maintains his home at Concordia, Kansas.

On the 9th of December, 1873, Mr. Taylor contracted a third marriage, when Miss Malinda C. Chapman became his wife, she having been born in the State of Iowa, where her parents settled in the pioneer days. Mr. and Mrs. Taylor became the parents of eight children, of whom Arthur and Rena died in infancy; Sarah C. is the wife of Bert Hart, of Ouster County, Oklahoma; Cora is the wife of Daniel Hart, of Drumwright, Oklahoma; George A. has charge of the homestead farm of his parents; Eva is the wife of John Miller, of Ellis County, Oklahoma; Nellie married Jay Hart; and Fay is the wife of Lemuel Sugg, of Oklahoma. Mr. Taylor has twenty-nine grandchidren.

From the Public Domain Book: A Standard History of Oklahoma by Joseph Bradfield Thoburn 1916 Vol 5